7/29/2019 Royal Marines Fitness Table

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GET FIT

TO APPLYAs a Royal Marines Commando, you need tobe sel-sufcient. We can operate anywherein the world, in any environment. That’s whywe have the longest and toughest training

o any NATO orce. That’s why we learn topush ourselves and that’s why we have theCommando ‘state o mind’.

SUGGESTED TRAINING PROGRAMME

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

Prioritysession

Running: Tempo30 minutes

Circuit Running: Tempo. Aterour weeks start‘interval’ running

Circuit Swimming:

30 minutes

Running:

Steady60 minutes

Rest

Secondary

session

Circuit Swimming:

30 minutes

Circuit Rest

To gain the level o tness you’ll need or the

PRMC or POC, you’ll have to take a structured

approach to your training. Be prepared to put

some serious time and eort into your ae robic

tness, swimming and upper- and lower-body

strength. It will be tough at times, especially i

you’re not used to it, but it’ll help you develop

habits and techniques that will serve you well

when you join us.

Creating your weekly schedule

In the table shown below, you’ll see some

days include both a ‘priority’ and a ‘secondary’

session. Priority is what you must achieve.

Secondary is what you should try to achieve as

well – because it could make all the dierence!

I you have two sessions in one day, try to

have several hours and a meal in between

to regain your energy.

You must have one rest day each week

with no physical training. Take a good

look at your work and other regular

commitments and plan your training

around them. I you try to maintain an

impossible schedule, you’ll just end up

discouraged.

You don’t have to do your sessions in

the order we have given, but two things

are important. Firstly, don’t try to do two

priority sessions on one day. You’ll nd one

each day is plenty! Secondly, avoid doing

two sessions o the same type on the same

day. For example, i you’ve done your

priority circuit in the morning, don’t then

do your secondary circuit that aternoon.

As part o your PRMC or POC, and recruit

training or Young Ocer training, you will

be expected to do a lot o running. The

weekly schedule includes three types.

Tempo – warm up by running at a

comortable pace or about ve minutes,

then run at a speed where you’re just unable

to hold a conversation (about seven minutes

a mile or aster) or 30 minutes.

Intervals – warm up, then sprint 200 metres

as ast as you can. Rest or two minutes.

Repeat this our times. Ater the ourth rest,

sprint 400 metres, rest or two minutes, then

repeat. Intervals are really hard, so don’t start

them until you’ve done at least our weeks’

tempo running, and only do one session a week.

Steady – run at a pace where you can hold a

conversation (about eight minutes a mile or

aster) or 60 minutes.

Running progression: as you get tter,

you’ll be able to go urther i n your tempo

and steady running sessions, and get

through your intervals in a shorter time.

I you aren’t used to running, you can build

up by running or as long as you can, then

walking until you recover enough to run

again. Gradually spend less time walking

until you’re running the whole session.

Swimming: you should aim to be able to

swim 200 metres breaststroke without any

pauses. Start by learning the technique

and then improve your stamina. I you

cannot swim 200 metres non-stop, swim

an achievable number o lengths and then

pause or 60 seconds beore repeating.

Continue until 30 minutes has passed. As

you improve, reduce the rest time until you

can swim constantly.

EAT WELL

Your muscles are 75% water. Try to stay

hydrated beore, during and ater exercise.

Carbohydrates help you recover rom

exercise and help you run urther andaster. Eat a carbohydrate-rich snack within

an hour o nishing your training session as

this is when your muscles need it the most

and can store it most eciently. Foods that

are rich in carbohydrates include bread,

rice, pasta, cereals and potatoes.

Fat is packed with calories but your body

can’t use calories as energy or training as

easily as carbs. Excess calories will be stored

as at and you will begin to put on weight.

Not all at is bad but you should try to cut

down on meat with visible white a t, chips,

hard cheese, butter and lard, pies and

pastry, cakes and biscuits, cream and

soured cream.

Lean meat, sh, poultry, eggs, nuts, beansand pulses are all good sources o protein

which your body needs to grow and repair

damaged muscles.

A chicken or turkey sandwich is just about

the perect post-exercise snack. The bread

contains carbs, the meat contains protein,

and you’ll get all the at you need rom

the butter! Alternative sandwiches could be

tuna (with a little mayonnaise), or peanut

butter. Beans on toast, or a glass o milk

and a banana would also be good choices.

Try to eat at least ve portions o ruit and

vegetables a day – more i you can. These

can be resh, rozen, chilled, canned or

dried. Pure ruit or vegetable juice also

counts, but it doesn’t contain as muchbre. And, remember that ruit juice is also

high in sugar.

Milk and dairy products are rich in calcium,

which makes your bones and teeth stronger

and helps your muscles and nerves work

properly. Try to drink a pint o milk a day −

semi-skimmed is best, as it’s lower in at.

Smoking aects your tness levels and

immune system, making you more likely to

be ill. Try to cut down or give up.

The harder you train, the more you have to eat,

but, like exercise, it’s about quality not just the

quantity that counts. A balanced diet will give

you all the energy and nutrients you need to

stay healthy and train eectively. Remember

the ollowing.

CIRCUIT EXERCISES EXPLAINED

EXERCISES 1ST SET 2ND SET 3RD SET 4TH SET

Pull-ups 4 6 6 4

Sit-ups 10 15 15 10

Press-ups 8 12 12 8

Dorsal raises 10 15 15 10

Burpees 8 10 10 8

No rest between exercises. Rest or one minute between sets.

The example circuit seen here contains all the

major exercises you’ll be expected to do as part

o your PRMC or POC, and any urther training

you go on to do at CTCRM. Tailor the numbers

to suit your abilities but go or quality rather

than quantity. 10 good press-ups will help you

improve much aster than 20 bad ones.

To tailor your own circuit, start by working out

your ‘starting maximum’ or each exercise –

that’s the number o repetitions you can do

without resting until you have to stop. Divide

this number by two and that gives you thenumber o repetitions you should do or your

rst and last set o exercises. Then a dd ve

− this gives you the number o reps or your

second and third sets o exercise. For pull-ups,

only add two more reps or your second and

third sets.

Circuit progression

As your body gets used to the circuit, you

will need to increase the activity to increase

your level o tness. Take the number o reps

you’ve been doing in your second and third

sets and now do this or your rst and last

sets. Then, as you did beore, add two reps to

your pull-ups and ve or every other exercise

in your second and third sets. You’ll naturally

get stronger as time goes on. Don’t try to

speed things up by compromising on quality.

 

Upper body

Increasing upper body strength is vital to

being t and ready or physical activity.

Press up

Lie on the foor with eet together and hands

slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.

Breathe out as you push o the foor

until your arms ully lock, keeping your

body straight.

Breathe in as you bend your elbows and

lower your body to just o the foor,

without resting your knees.

In your PRMC or POC, i you don’t do a ull

press-up, this will not count as a repetition

and you will be stopped.

Pull up

Grab the bar with

an ‘overhand’

grasp and pull your

body up until your

chin clears the

height o the bar.

Lower your body

until your arms and

shoulders are ully

extended.

In your PRMC or POC you must keep your

legs straight and perorm each pull-up to

a set rhythm. This will prevent you rom

using momentum to complete the rep.

Remember that your range o motion will

reduce i your grip is too wide.

Core body

Keeping your core muscles strong will protect

your organs, improve your posture and prevent

injuries to your back.

Sit up

Lie on the foor with your knees bent and

your eet and knees together, with your

ngertips on your temples.

Do not put your hands behind your

head as this will i njure your neck during

the exercise.

Sit up under control so your upper body is

upright and your elbows touch the top o

your knees.

Lay back down under control so your head,

shoulders and elbows touch the foor.

Dorsal raise

Lie on your ront with your legs together

with your arms straight behind you and the

back o your hands placed on the base o

your spine.

Slowly raise your upper body and legs o

the foor and hold the position briefy.

Gently lower to the foor, breathing out.

Lower body

Almost every physical task you will ace in

training needs strong legs. Strengthening them

will improve your running, swimming and

load-carrying ability when in training. Practising

burpees will also develop your heart and lungs,

which will urther increase your perormance.

Burpee

Stand upright with your arms to your sides.

Bend over and squat down, placing your

hands on the foor slightly wider than

shoulder-width apart.

Keeping your upper body where it is, kick

both legs back at the same time, landing

on the balls o your eet. You should now

be in a plank position with a straight back.

Leaving your upper body where it is,

pull both legs orward under your body,

returning your eet to the original position.

Rise up to the original standing position.

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R AT LA R  B  I G

STATE OF MINDMotivation comes rom inside. Set your

mind on what you want to achieve and

how you’re going to get there, not the

things that might get in your way.

Focus on your short-term goals and the big

stu will ollow naturally.

Don’t just stop once you’ve reached a

particular target or goal. Always try to go

one step urther.

Believe in yoursel. You can do more than

you think you can.

WARM UP AND STRETCHINGBeore you start exercising it is im portant

that you warm up or at least 10 minutes.

This will cut your risk o injury, improve your

fexibility and in turn, boost your strength.

I at any point you eel pain, stop. I the pain

continues, see your doctor. Here’s a good

warm-up routine:

1. Jog or three minutes, swinging your arms

orward and backward then nd a space

where you can run or up to 10 metres.

2. Jog or 10 metres, liting your knees

halway to your waist. Return to the start

by jogging backwards, looking over eachshoulder in turn.

3. Jog out and back, this time liting your

heels halway to your backside.

4. Jog out and back, acing sideways and

side stepping.

 

5. Jog out and

back, liting

your knees in

line with your

waist.

6. Jog out and

back, liting

your heels

to your

backside.

7. Jog out and

back, acing

sideways and

side skipping

(get some

height on

the skip!).

8. Run out and back, then slowly do threepress-ups, three sit-ups and three squats.

9. Repeat the last step slightly aster.

10. Repeat the last step, but at a sprint and as

ast as you can.

Below are some signs that you’ve completed a

good warm-up:

You begin sweating.

Your heart rate increases.

Your muscles don’t eel sti.

You eel motivated.

You can concentrate and ocus better.

Stretching and cool down

Always spend 10 minutes cooling down at

the end o a session, then stretch to help

prevent sore, sti muscles. I you eel any pain

in a stretch, stop immediately and see your

doctor i it carries on. Stick to these six rules

o stretching and you should be ne:

1. Always start in the correct position.

2. Always stretch slowly.

3. Never ‘bounce’ the stretch position.

4. Hold each stretch or 10 to 20 seconds.

5. Move smoothly and steadily, staying

relaxed and controlled.

6. Never ask another person to help you

push a stretch urther.

Rest days

You must take time to rest and recover, or you

can easily end up overtraining. Classic warning

signs are getting ill, eeling constantly tired or

suering more injuries than usual. Ease o,

take an extra rest day and you’ll soon be back

on track.